Writing futuristic workflows in office 365 SharePoint 2013 2016 on premise
Download as PPTX, PDF•1 like•471 views
The document discusses developing maintainable custom workflows in Office 365/SharePoint Online. It provides tips for writing workflows that can be easily maintained, updated, and migrated. Some key tips include using comments and status fields, breaking workflows into multiple parts, and following naming conventions. It also covers limitations of SharePoint workflows and alternatives like Microsoft Flow.
Writing futuristic workflows in office 365 SharePoint 2013 2016 on premise
- 1. WithumSmith+Brown, PC | BE IN A POSITION OF STRENGTH 1 SM @pgbhoyar#SharePointFest Future Proofing Your Workflow Investment: How to develop maintainable custom workflows in Office 365/SharePoint Online Prashant G Bhoyar SharePoint Fest Seattle 2017 11 August 2017
- 2. WithumSmith+Brown, PC | BE IN A POSITION OF STRENGTH 2 SM @pgbhoyar#SharePointFest Who AM I ? • Born and raised in India • Came to United States of America in 2007 for studies • University of Maryland College Park Alumni • Co-Author of the book “PowerShell for Office 365” • Technical Reviewer of the book “Pro : SharePoint 2013 Administration” • Organizer of SharePoint Saturday Baltimore (SPSBMORE) Save the Date : August 26th 2017 http://www.spsevents.org/city/baltimore/baltimoretecc • Organizer of SharePoint Saturday DC ( SPSDC ) http://www.spsevents.org/city/DC/summer2017 • Founder and Organizer of DC-Metro Office 365 User Group Monthly in person & online event http://www.meetup.com/DC-Metro-Office-365-User-Group/ • Recipient of Antarctic Service Medal • Microsoft MVP ( Most Valuable Professional) • Senior Consultant at Withum Smith and Brown PC Focus on Microsoft Solutions and Services http://www.portalsolutions.net/ Prashant G Bhoyar (PGB)
- 3. WithumSmith+Brown, PC | BE IN A POSITION OF STRENGTH 3 SM @pgbhoyar#SharePointFest • 300 Level Session • Contents are applicable for SharePoint 2013 and 2016 On Premise as well • Future • Tips for writing futuristic workflows • Throttling Limits in Office 365 • Limitations of SharePoint Workflows • Demos • Key Takeaways • Q&A Agenda
- 4. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar ENTER TO WIN $50 Amazon Gift Card Please submit your business card!
- 5. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Slides: https://www.slideshare.net/pgbhoyar Slides
- 7. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Audience Poll • How many of you are IT pros? • How many of you are Developers? • How many of you are Power Users? • How many of you are Business Users? • How many of you are in charge of maintaining the workflows? 7
- 9. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Why this session? • Lessons Learned • Future 9
- 11. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar 11 • The development/testing experience is slow Because of platform’s architecture In general Workflow development is slow process Analogy : Public Transportation System • Difficult to gather all the requirements before start of the development Be ready for multiple revisions • Versioning Of SharePoint Workflows Updates does not get applied to running workflows Lessons Learned
- 13. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Recent Announcements • There will NOT be SharePoint Designer 2016 http://sharepoint-community.net/forum/topics/what-s-happening-to-sharepoint-designer-in- sharepoint-2016-is-it SharePoint 2013 Designer will be supported till 2026 • Microsoft Flow https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/introducing-microsoft-flow-and-announcing-the- public-preview-of-powerapps/ 13
- 14. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar What does this mean? • SharePoint Workflows most probably will have same fate as InfoPath forms services Microsoft will continue to support No future enhancements • Time to explore other options Microsoft Flow https://flow.microsoft.com Logic Apps https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/logic-apps/ Visual Studio Workflows Can deploy them only as “App” Other Third Party Products 14
- 15. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Tips we will cover today helps in these situations • Fixing Bugs • Implementing Changes in Requirements • Migration • Move to new workflow Products/Services 15
- 16. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar • Browser • Visio 2013 • SharePoint 2013 Designer • Visual Studio 2012/2013/2015/2017 • Flow/Logic Apps • Third Party Tools Office 365 /SharePoint Online Workflow Tools
- 18. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Typical SharePoint Workflow Life Cycle Initiation • When the workflow instance is started on list/library item Running • User Interaction via tasks ( optional) • Status page reflects the status of the workflows Termination • End of the workflow instance Association • When the workflow is associated with List/Library
- 19. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar High Level Architecture of Workflow Infrastructure 19
- 21. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Top Tip 01 • Have flow chart of the workflow handy Microsoft Visio - Recommended Pen and Paper works too SharePoint Designer 2013- Export to Visio
- 22. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Top Tip 01 - Cont
- 23. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Top Tip 01 - Cont Source : http://www.daskeyboard.com/blog/?p=3855
- 25. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar • Use activity “Add a comment” to write informative comments in the workflow End users will not see these comments unlike workflow history list logs Top Tip 02
- 26. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Top Tip 03 – Most Important • Implement the logic to stop/start at a particular stage Helps to update the business logic gracefully Helpful in case the workflow instance gets terminated Helpful during migration Helps in quick testing of the changes
- 27. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Top Tip 04 • Save the Workflow status in a separate field Avoid default workflow name Helps to divide workflow into multiple workflows Helps if you use other products or services for workflow development in future
- 28. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Top Tip 05 • If possible Break down the workflows in multiple WFs Helps a lot in development and maintenance We can start SharePoint 2010 workflows from SharePoint 2013 only We can not start SharePoint 2013 workflows from SharePoint 2013 workflows using OOTB Action You can use “Wait for field change in current item” to trigger the workflows
- 29. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Other Tips for developing maintainable custom workflows • Naming Convention for Custom Workflows Use the naming convention that works best for you and your organization For example, List or Library + ListName + Purpose • Using If condition and a custom variable, we can pick and choose the additional logging Similar to #if debug directive in C# The workflow will be long, but it can save a lot of troubleshooting/development time End users will not see additional comments in Production
- 30. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Tips for developing maintainable custom workflows • Don’t create the variable if you don’t have to 50 is the limit • Use SharePoint groups to assign the tasks/send emails instead of individual users • Do not modify the OOTB global workflows Create copy and then modify
- 31. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Tips for developing maintainable custom workflows • Log information in the History List Log variables, important info that will be helpful during debugging/troubleshooting End users can see the logs • Use new Task List and History list for each workflow To create the new tasks list and history list, we can use Workflow Settings page SharePoint Designer SharePoint UI OOTB “Workflow Tasks” List has additional notifications To turn off -> List Settings – Advanced Settings -> Uncheck “Send e-mail when ownership is assigned?”
- 32. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Tips for developing maintainable custom workflows • Review the workflow starting logic Limit how many times the workflow gets started Make sure they won’t start unnecessarily after the workflow is ended successfully • Create a separate Workflow status field as text Gives the ability of filtering and sorting Gives you the ability to generate dashboards based on status field Approvers love this option • Capture the dates of various approval steps Helps to generate audit logs/reports
- 33. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Tips for developing maintainable custom workflows • Create custom task content types for tasks with only one logical outcome • Pay extra attention while modifying the Custom Task content types Task outcome field must be the last field • Restrict the access • Keep workflow initiation activity to minimum • For large lists, don’t remove the workflow, but set to no new instance Do it in non business hours
- 35. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Throttling Limits in Office 365 • In Office 365 workflow manager has strict throttling limits for SharePoint 2013 Style workflows • The instance has exceeded the outbound http request quota for a 1.00:00:00 time period. The 5000 request limit was reached in <time>. The request quota of 5000 request limits is per workflow per site collection in 24 hours Analogy credit score • Workflow instances can get suspended and we need to wait 24 hours to resume the suspended workflow instance by clicking Resume for the workflow or by using the SharePoint Workflow Client Object Model • Suspended workflow instances will be terminated after 10 days. Source : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3076399
- 36. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Throttling Limits in Office 365
- 37. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Throttling Limits in Office 365 • There is no OOTB email alert if the workflow get suspended • We can find the suspended workflows on the page /_layouts/15/WorkflowServiceHealth.aspx • If we develop workflow as an “App” these throttling limitations do not apply We have to use Visual Studio to develop the workflow as an App
- 38. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Throttling Limits in Office 365 – Design Consideration • Avoid infinite loops We may use “Wait for field change in current item” • Avoid using a workflow to execute complex algorithms Workflows are intended to manage document-driven, human processes and not to dispatch significant computational tasks. • Avoid the use of the “Wait for Event in List Item" activity Source : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3076399
- 40. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar 40 Limitations We can not start workflows on delete event 50 variable limit No source control for SPD workflows String functions are limited For advance implementations you may need to involve devs/architects SharePoint 2013 Style workflows throttling
- 42. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar 42 How to get Personal Office 365 Development Tenant? Sign up for Office 365 Developer Program at http://dev.office.com/ Get 1 year of Office 365 subscription for free Excellent for personal development use 1 Month Trial https://products.office.com/en- us/business/compare-office-365-for- business-plans
- 44. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Which one to use? • For new workflows I recommend Flow ( First Option) SharePoint 2013 Style Workflows SharePoint 2010 Style Workflows 44
- 45. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Key Takeaways • Hopefully the contents we covered today convince you to use best practices while creating workflows in SharePoint • Sign up for Developer Program using https://dev.office.com/ • Implement the logic to start/stop workflow at any stage
- 47. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Recap • Future • Tips for writing futuristic workflows • Throttling Limits in Office 365 • Limitations of SharePoint Workflows • Demos • Key Takeaways 47
- 48. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Other SPFest Seattle 2017 Workflow Sessions • WF 203 - Advanced SharePoint Designer 2013 Workflows • WF 204 - Business Process Automation: Advanced Workflow Solutions 48
- 50. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar References Appendix/Resources MSDN/TechNet: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/jj163181(v=office.15).aspx https://dev.office.com/sharepoint/docs/general-development/sharepoint-workflow- fundamentals https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj227177.aspx https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/ Training Videos (Paid): http://www.Pluralsight.com
- 51. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Surveys Feedback Please! Session Surveys via Event App Select “Schedule” -> Select Session -> Scroll to “Session Survey” Learn from the Top SharePoint Experts WWW.SHAREPOINTFEST.COM
- 52. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar ENTER TO WIN $50 Amazon Gift Card Please drop your business card!
- 53. #SharePointFest @pgbhoyar Questions? Feedback? Contact me: Twitter: @PGBhoyar Blog: http://pgbhoyar.com Email: [email protected] Slides: https://www.slideshare.net/pgbhoyar Feedback : Please provide feedback Session Evaluation – Event App Email or Anonymous Suggestions: https://www.suggestionox.com/r/pgb Thank You Organizers, Sponsors and You for Making this Possible.